Spongebob

Spongebob Squarepants and his good buddy Patrick Starfish begin this adventure by finding pieces of the magical Atlantis Amulet. When the duo have the entire relic assemble a magic bus (no, I am not, in fact, making this up) appears and takes them to the lost city of Atlantis where they, along with Mr. Krabs and Sandy, scour the ruins looking for treasure. If you’ve seen the show you’ll recognize this plot as lifted from an episode of the cartoon. The story frames the game well and gives our heroes a reason to run, jump, and blow bubbles at all manner of features in this two-dimensional platformer.

Atlantis Squarepantis controls well, and each character has a unique attack: Spongebob blows bubbles and Patrick licks foes, for example. Past controlling two characters and being able to switch between them at will, this is standard side-scroller fare. Aside from the platforming Atlantis Squarepantis features a rhythm mini-game in which the player must hit A, B, or the directional pad in time with the music. It’s implemented well, but it’s possible to cheat. The game checks to make sure that A was pressed at the proper time, but completely ignores other inputs received at the same time. Visuals are top-notch and look like they were ripped straight from the cartoon. This is no small feat, especially for the GBA. Everything looks right, and it all has that unique Spongebob Squarepants style to it.

It should come as no surprise that Spongebob’s Atlantis Squarepantis is an easy game. It’s aimed at children that would like a little extra Spongebob in their day. Unfortunately, the game is also short and lacking in replay value. If your little one really needs a yellow, rectangular buddy and the only gaming system available is the GBA then Atlantis Squarepantis will do the trick, but don’t expect it to occupy anybody for long.